“…for we are His workmanship." - Ephesians 2:10

    What a relief this is for the religious man who has struggled to make something of himself!  From our youth and through our lives we are told we should make something of ourselves, and I suppose that is good advice for the things pertaining to this life.  But it is a fruitless and even deadly endeavor in spiritual things.  And this applies with equal force to the believer, for his flesh will continue telling him that he must continue striving to make something of himself.  But we must not give in to the urge to add our efforts to the work of God!  And since we must not, we need not – and there is rest in that.

    We are GOD’s workmanship.  The word translated “workmanship” was often applied to artistic efforts such as that of a potter who forms a lump of clay into something beautiful.  In fact, our word “poem” comes from this word.  I do not consider myself to be very artistic, but that does not mean I do not try my hand at a few things from carpentry to music.  And there is one thing that I know about my efforts to be artistic: I do not like it when people add their own work to it.  The reason is simple: Artistic works are an expression of the artist, himself, so to find fault with the art is to find fault with the artist; to seek to improve his work is to set one’s self above him.

    God is the Artist of our salvation.  He has predestined that we should be conformed to His image and He, Himself, has undertaken this work.  We must not put our hand to it.  We must resist the urge to improve upon the work of God.  As with all art work, once God is done, all of His people will, once again, be in His image and they will be an expression of the character of the God Who made them – Whose work of art they are.  And I am quite certain that we cannot improve upon what He is doing or how He is doing it!